Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler is one of the main characters in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind and the novel of the same name upon which the movie is based. He is a man from Charleston who becomes romantically attracted to and involved with the protagonist Scarlett O'Hara. However, he also becomes a soldier in the Confederacy fighting for the maintaining of slavery, and who after the war is strongly implied to rape his wife, making him essentially a Protagonist Villain. He was portrayed by . Biography Butler is first introduced as having overheard a conversation between Scarlett O'Hara and the man she was in love with, Ashley, who prefers her cousin Melanie Hamilton (who he is also engaged to marry). Rhett is then among the men to join the Confederate cause and fight in the Civil War after it is declared at the barbecue that war has begun. Later, when Scarlett is in Atlanta, she meets Rhett again, the man now serving as a blockade runner for the Confederate Army. During the celebration for a Confederate victory men are allowed to bid to dance with the ladies in attendance at the party. Rhett places a large bid for Scarlett, who agrees to dance with him. Later, as the war turns against the Confederacy, Scarlett seeks Rhett's help in taking her home to Tara with Melanie, her baby, and Prissy, but he only takes them out of the city before abandoning them so he can keep fighting for the Confederacy, forcing Scarlett and the rest to make their way back on their own. Rhett shows up later participating in an attack on a shanty town in retaliation for Scarlett being attacked while driving through it alone previously. Rhett proposes to Scarlett after this incident and she agrees to marry him. They have a child that Rhett names Bonnie Blue, but afterwards his wife tells him that she wants no more children. When Scarlett goes on to have an affair with Ashley, Rhett learns of the infedlity after the news spreads, and he forces her to attend a birthday party for Ashley. When the two return home from the party, Rhett gets drunk and begins to force himself on Scarlett, culminating in his possibly and seemingly raping her after dragging her upstairs so that he can fullfill his desire to have sex with her at last. The next day, Rhett apologizes to Scarlett and even offers her a divorce, but she is too proud to accept it and refuses. Later she gets pregnant again, but with Rhett having been away in London at the time, he realizes that the child cannot be his. In the violent argument that follows Rhett causes Scarlett to fall down a flight of stairs and suffer a miscarriage. As Scarlett is recovering, Bonnie dies too while attempting to jump a fence with her pony. This proves one tragedy too many, and Rhett later abandons Scarlett, callously rebuffing her pleas that she loved him all along and now regrets her pursuit of Ashley over so many years. Unmoved by Scarlett's overtures, and noting that with Bonnie's death went any chance of reconciliation, Rhett leaves her behind for good. Legacy Rhett Butler was often considered one of the most desirable romantic leads in cinema in the 1930s and Rhett would be the forerunner to other romantic heros like Yuri Zhivago and Jack Dawson among others. Category:Protagonists Category:Male Category:Book Villains Category:Movie Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:In Love Category:Charismatic Category:Spouses Category:Rapists Category:Slaver Category:Abusers Category:Misogynists Category:Military Category:Traitor Category:Supremacists Category:Oppressors Category:Jingoists Category:Honorable Category:Vengeful Category:Remorseful Category:Karma Houdini Category:On & Off Category:Lawful Evil Category:Aristocrats Category:Wealthy Category:Parents Category:Protective Category:Affably Evil Category:Grey Zone